Riverdale One Shots

II

ᑕᗩTᖺᗩᖇᔕᓰᔕ

Iridescent, spherical bullets. Showering to the floor like rain on a dismal day, their shine long since worn away by endless corruption and manipulation. Beauty faded and worth lost, to be cast away like rotten fruit. Like a trophy wife who has seen younger days or a race horse who has seen faster sprints. A woman who has seen more modest a life.

Hermione Lodge stared down at the, now still, white pearls that splayed across the dark wooden floor. Dull brown eyes tired from endless, sleepless nights, cast down upon the discarded beads. Once soft and shiny brunette hair hung flat and lifeless around her soft but fatigued features, her beauty wasn't gone, only hidden from view. She sighed softly, rising from her seat on the edge of the luxuriously soft bed, eyes tracing hatefully across the expensive, high end furniture and trivial, unimportant items. A heart torn in two between two worlds, her past and her present melding together in repeated mistakes but infinite universes apart. Torn between the girl she once was, quite, mischievous, perhaps rude to others but innocent. The roll of a dice twisting the game of life into that of horror, pain and death. The day she chose the card of a thief and everything changed. Love was lost, secrets hidden and her life married to the devil. Now, here she was, trapped as the powerful yet utterly helpless wife of a monster.

Women control everything from behind the scenes. That's what she'd learnt. Hermione had grown to understand the dynamics between the powerful men who run New York, and had learnt how to manipulate their wives n her husbands favour. A nice afternoon tea here that ensured people to talk about how nice she is and make them want to deal with them. A gift sent to the wife for the husband to be thankful for. Small, tiny details that pushed Hiram's power above others, that made his good 'luck' higher. She sighed quietly, walking into the en-suite bathroom slowly and turning on the shower. Letting the water flow down quickly, steam surrounding her. Hermione looked at herself in the mirror, staring into her own reflection sadly.

Sighing quietly, she wiped clear her makeup before turning to the shower. Dropping the extortionate silk robe to the floor. Thoughts spun quickly through her mind, dizzying her. Water soaked through her hair quickly, hot against her scalp. Each drop of water burning the truth into her mind, she had to leave Hiram, leave Riverdale and take Veronica far away from this nightmare of a place.

Thinking about the past few days, the nightmares that had been plaguing Riverdale were all too familiar. Hiram Lodge, a deviant monster who had made so many homeless and tried to stamp the serpents out of the Southside forever, was her husband, the man who had wonderful plans for the future when they were in high school. The black hood, a psycho serial killer who was obsessed with ridding Riverdale of sin, was once the smiling bulldog that was charming enough to look out for Alice when she told him she was pregnant. Finally, Penelope Blossom, the homophobic, abusive mother who had been the scared girl who had been ripped from an orphanage to marry the boy that had been raised as her brother. Monsters that had been people she could have called friends at one point, were now the very people she wanted to protect Riverdale from. Hermione had thought her presidency would have enabled her to do that, but she's still just another pawn.

If she told anyone how she felt, they'd question why she didn't just leave Hiram. It was simply because if she tried he'd probably have her killed for knowing too much, if she stayed she could look out for Veronica and try to protect her. She couldn't deal with the guilt of what could happen to Veronica, sure, she was his blood but that wouldn't stop him from ripping everything away from her without so much as a second thought.

She bit her lip as she felt tears brimming her eyes, she hated being stuck with him, he was destroying Riverdale and working with the worst of the worst. Archie didn't deserve to go to prison, Penelope is an awful human being and the ghoulies were childish bullies that terrorised the Northside. How did she sit back and just let this happen? She washed her hair slowly, becoming unsure if the water falling down her face were tears or not. Each small tear rolling down her check was pushing the knife of guilt further into her heart, tearing at her violently and she could only stand and pretend everything was okay.

She hit the floor suddenly, eyes cast down as she tried to stop the sobs that tried to tumble from her mouth. "I'm so...so sorry, I f...failed," she whispered weakly, her voice cracking. She didn't know who she was apologising to, Riverdale or herself, but uh didn't matter. She had done just as much damage as Hiram by standing by his side and helping him. Maybe she could stop his madness now, protect the people that live in the small town. Hemione Lodge would not hurt these people anymore.

Word Count
879

Date Posted
Sunday 17th February 2019